Kenny Baker

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• Born: 24 August 1934
• Birthplace: Birmingham, England
• Best Known As: The actor who plays R2-D2 in Star Wars

Kenny Baker was already an accomplished circus and cabaret performer when he took the role of R2-D2 in the 1977 sci-fi film Star Wars. His height won him the part: at 3'8" tall, Baker was small enough to fit inside the tiny robot. The film was a hit and director George Lucas went on to make a series of sequels; Baker and Anthony Daniels, who plays robot C-3P0, are the only actors to appear in all six Star Wars films to date. (Baker also doubled as a furry Ewok in 1983's The Return of the Jedi.) Baker's other films include Time Bandits (1981) and the Jim Henson film Labyrinth (1986, with Jennifer Connelly). He also has a long-running cabaret act with entertainer Jack Purvis.

As R2-D2, Baker himself is never seen and his voice is not used in the role... Baker is no relation to the British trumpeter Kenny Baker.

• Born: Aug 24, 1934 in Birmingham, England
• Occupation: Actor
• Active: '70s-2000s
• Major Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy
• Career Highlights: The Empire Strikes Back
• First Major Screen Credit: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Biography

Not to be confused with the honey-voiced radio tenor of the same name, British dwarf actor Kenny Baker was a fixture of science-fiction and horror films of the 1970s and 1980s. A nightclub performer who, like America's Michael Dunn, traded in more on his talent than his size, the 3'8" Baker was cast in Star Wars (1977) as the beep-boop-beeping minirobot R2-D2, while his nightclub partner Jack Purvis was given the smaller role of the chief Jawa. Baker gave one of the few all-motorized human performances in film history. Once jammed into his robot costume, he was unable to move about and had to rely on a sophisticated remote controls - and when those didn't work, he had to be pulled around on nylon ropes. Additionally, the noisemaking computer controls on the R2D2 shell were so loud that Baker didn't know if a take was over unless someone banged on the costume with a hammer. Somehow Baker survived both his tight hardware exterior and the sweltering Tunisian heat on location, and appeared in both Star Wars sequels, as well as such other oddball movie projects as The Elephant Man (1980), Time Bandits (1981) and Mona Lisa (1988). And in the Oscar-winning Amadeus (1984), Kenny Baker can be seen without his R2D2 getup as a jester-like performer in one of Mozart's comic operas. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones Buy this Movie	Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace Buy this Movie	Sleeping Beauty Buy this Movie	Labyrinth Buy this Movie
Mona Lisa Buy this Movie	Amadeus Buy this Movie	Return of the Jedi Buy this Movie	The Hunchback of Notre Dame Buy this Movie

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